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Science

Saint Patrick’s Catholic Primary School

‘We arise today, to learn, love and grow through Jesus.’

At Saint Patrick’s we aim to create an environment in which each individual has the opportunity to thrive supported by values of Christ firmly built into our everyday foundations. Education, welfare and wellbeing are at the heart of everything we do. Above all else, we want to foster a strong belief in all our children that they can succeed in all they do, no matter what. Working with all school parties, we wish to nurture each child’s potential and foster high aspirations. It is essential that we give them the tool kit needed to achieve their goals regardless of background or starting points.

Intent

The National Curriculum for Science aims to ensure that all pupils:

develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future

Science for primary school children means exploration of their surroundings, simple investigation into their findings by making comparisons and observations and testing their own ideas.

Science is important in all aspects of learning and is integrated with all school activities. Children need the opportunity to experiment, explore via the sciences, collect, observe, discuss and solve simple problems. This allows the children to ask questions about themselves and their world.

Throughout EYFS, children explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants. They develop their knowledge of some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class. By the end of EYFs, children understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.

In KS1, children experience and observe different phenomena, looking more closely at the natural and humanly-constructed world around them. They are encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they notice. They develop their understanding of scientific ideas by using different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions, including observing changes over a period of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative tests, and finding things out using secondary sources of information. Children begin to use simple scientific language to talk about what they have found out and communicate their ideas in a variety of ways.

In lower KS2, children broaden their scientific view of the world around them. They do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. Children should ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. Following their scientific investigations, children should draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out.

In upper KS2, children develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They do this through exploring and talking about their ideas; asking their own questions about scientific phenomena; and analysing functions, relationships and interactions more systematically. Children encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They should also begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. In answering scientific questions, they should select the most appropriate ways to answer using different types of scientific enquiry, including observing changes over different periods of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out comparative and fair tests and finding things out using a wide range of secondary sources of information. Children should draw conclusions based on their data and observations, use evidence to justify their ideas, and use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain their findings.

Science is taught progressively throughout all key stages. It is taught as a stand-alone subject but suitable links to other topics can be made where appropriate throughout the academic year. Links to English and Maths will be made where appropriate. The science curriculum at Saint Patrick’s is organised into five topics per year group. The topics are grouped into Scientific enquiry strands (research, observing over time, pattern seeking, fair and comparative testing and identifying and classifying) and the same strand will be taught across the school at the same time.

Children are naturally fascinated by everything around them and science in our school is about developing ideas and ways of working to help their environment make sense through different enquiries (research, observing over time, pattern seeking, fair and comparative testing and identifying and classifying), as well as using and applying process skills (asking scientific questions, planning and setting up an enquiry, observing closely, taking measurements, gathering and recording results, presenting results, interpreting results, drawing conclusions, making predications and evaluation).

Implementation

Scientific Enquiry describes the processes and skills pupils should be taught and use, to find out more about the world and how it works. It also includes the methods of enquiry and the NC encourages pupils to use a variety of (and most appropriate) approaches to answer their questions. These types of scientific enquiry include:

research, observing over time, pattern seeking, fair and comparative testing and identifying and classifying.

Click the subpages below to see how these skills are taught at St. Patrick's.

Science at Saint Patrick's

We recognise that we have children of differing abilities in Science and we seek to provide suitable learning opportunities by matching the challenge of the task to the child’s ability. We achieve this by:

Setting open-ended tasks which can have a variety of responses.
Grouping children by ability and setting different tasks for each ability group.
Providing resources of different complexity depending on the ability of the child.
Using Teaching Assistants to support children individually or in groups.
Organising children in such a way that they receive support from their peers.

Impact

At Saint Patrick’s We believe, the welcoming, respectful environment, enriched in catholic morals and teachings, continues to enhance the educational and pastoral experience of every individual passing through our doors, to ensure that they develop and become well-rounded individuals within the community, with the ambition to reach their potential and succeed.

We recognise the unique needs of each child and support them in developing the whole child. We have a supportive ethos and our approaches support the children in developing both their collaborative and independent skills. The impact of our science curriculum is measured in the experiences, confidence and competence of our children within the subject. By revisiting scientific enquiry skills and concepts, children will deepen their understanding and be able to identify links.